In this man's last diplomatic post, he answered the justification for the Sack of Rome offered by Alfonso de Valdes by writing that any violent interference with the church constituted heresy and inviting Valdes to depart Valladolid for Germany. That letter also defended Pope Clement VII's  anti-Imperial policies, which as a court advisor to Clement this papal nuncio had counseled against. In publicly defending his master against the propaganda of Charles V's associate Valdes, this man was living up to the standard of sprezzatura  he described in his contemporaneously published book. That book
In this man's last diplomatic post, he answered the justification for the Sack of Rome offered by Alfonso de Valdes by writing that any violent interference with the church constituted heresy and inviting Valdes to depart Valladolid for Germany. That letter also defended Pope Clement VII's  anti-Imperial policies, which as a court advisor to Clement this papal nuncio had counseled against. In publicly defending his master against the propaganda of Charles V's associate Valdes, this man was living up to the standard of sprezzatura  he described in his contemporaneously published book. That book uses the device of a conversation at the court of the Duke of Urbino to characterize the ideal of Renaissance public life. For ten points, name the author of The Book of the Courtier, the subject of a famous portrait by Raphael.
In this man's last diplomatic post, he answered the justification for the Sack of Rome offered by Alfonso de Valdes by writing that any violent interference with the church constituted heresy and inviting Valdes to depart Valladolid for Germany.
{Baldassare Castiglione}